| Rating |
Date Attended [v] |
Reviewer |
Gender |
Age |
Where From? |
Group Type? |
|
Loved it ... and teenage son was happy too
|
| Tue, Jul 14, 09 11:30 AM |
sltbennett |
Female |
40-49 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Family With Children |
| Really loved this experience, even with a teenage son in tow! There were a few places on the tour we weren't sure we were going to enjoy so much ... tea, oil, spices. Turns out, those are the places we absolutely had to go back to later and do a little shopping. Nicki was a fun tour guide and we covered a large area we never would have seen without it! My husband and son wished there was also a chicago-dog tasting experience along the route, but I was fine without it! :) thanks all for the fun afternoon. |
|
nakedly commercial, lack of other info
|
| Tue, Jul 14, 09 11:30 AM |
smargot |
Female |
20-29 |
Combination |
Group of Friends |
| I feel bad writing a negative review because our tour guide was perfectly nice and the samples were tasty, but it basically felt like a 2 1/2 hour commercial for the restaurants and shops we visited. Very little historical/cultural information about Chicago or the neighborhoods we walked through and no memorable stories. For most of the tour, the guide just made polite chit-chat with people about the weather.
The samples were perfectly fine--we got a sample-size sandwich, a glass of iced tea, a piece of chocolate, a piece of stuffed pizza, a bit of hummus and cheese, and also tried some oil/vinegar and different kinds of cinnamon. The hummus and cheese were pretty clearly just whatever the catering place had leftover and wanted to get rid of, but everything else was good. It just didn't feel like it was worth $40+, especially given that the tour itself wasn't that informative or entertaining (and then the tour guide asked for tips on top of it!).
You can't shop on the tour and clearly the primary incentive for the participating shops is to drum up business (you also get coupons for all of them) so the primary thrust of the tour seemed to be to try to convince everyone to come back and spend money. Definitely not useful if you're either a) not going to be in Chicago long enough to do that or b) already have preferred sources of tea, spices, and oil/vinegar.
Maybe another neighborhood/another tour guide would have been more entertaining? I definitely wouldn't do this again. |
|
Fun if you have nothing else to do....
|
| Tue, Jul 14, 09 11:00 AM |
3cheers |
Female |
30-39 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Couple on a Date |
| ...we only stayed in Chicago for one night and one full day. It was interesting to learn about the area, it was a LOT of walking, so you have to be in decent shape. The tour was approximately 3 hours long, we visited 6 or 7 shops, which you couldn't buy anything on the tour, so we had to go back after. Which took another 2 hours. If you're only going to be in Chicago a short time, I probably would not recommend it. If you're there for a few days...than it would be GREAT! Our guide was fun and it was cool to see the "more quaint" side of Chicago (which I did not know existed). |
|
|
Excellent
|
| Tue, Jul 14, 09 11:00 AM |
leoncolliste |
Male |
20-29 |
Local |
Couple on a Date |
| Loved it, a wonderful birthday for my wife who loved it.
Great service, and most of all great memories. |
|
|
Wonderful experience that I would highly recommend
|
| Mon, Jul 13, 09 11:30 AM |
SallyS1 |
Female |
40-49 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Family Without Children |
| I stumbled across this tour as I was searching the net for Chicago activities and things to do during the afternoon on a weekday. My husband and I were more than surprised to discover this experience to be extremely delightful! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about the area, and she provided information that was both factual and fun. We loved the wide choices of restaurants and shops on our tour and the food tasting was delicious! I particularly enjoyed learning about the architecture and history of the buildings and neighborhoods as we walked. It was well worth the money and time, and I would highly recommend this tour to anyone who likes this type of experience! |
|
|
a great way to spend 3 hours
|
| Mon, Jul 13, 09 11:30 AM |
baifalls |
Male |
40-49 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Family With Children |
| Nothing better than walking around sampling local food and getting a better feel for the local culture |
|
|
Great tour and would send others
|
| Mon, Jul 13, 09 11:30 AM |
bobsandora |
Male |
60-69 |
Local |
Family Without Children |
| Loved the tour and Nickie was great. Would like to have heard from the owner of the fudge shop. |
|
|
Fantastic Not To Be Missed
|
| Mon, Jul 13, 09 11:30 AM |
lainev |
Male |
50-59 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Couple on a Date |
| Don't miss out on this one. Mind you, you have to walk but that allowed us to stop at many different places for a little bit of history. We even backtracked to visit the stores a second time. The food and the history made for a wonderful experience. Our guide, Nikki, was excellent. |
|
|
Find new places to go
|
| Mon, Jul 13, 09 11:00 AM |
schbus |
Male |
50-59 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Individual |
| The places we went to were great, except the catering-chocolate place why did we go there? The others were great!! Would have liked to sit a little, lots of walking.Not much food. |
|
|
Tough for seniors
|
| Mon, Jul 13, 09 11:00 AM |
schbus |
Female |
60-69 |
Local |
Group of Friends |
| The tour guide was very enthusiastic. We loved some of the placesbut were under the impression we would sit down a little more. My group was seniors and we would have liked to sit and listen and eat. We throught more food could have provided at each place like hors d'oeuvres. So we were a little disappointed in that. We felt it was worth $24.00 not $44.00. And it was a little too much walking for a person with an artificial hip. We all walk alot but I guess because there was no sitting we had a bad time. Could provide more restrooms stops also. |
